Simon Busuttil: ‘I was the one Joseph Muscat spoke to about Mistra’

Labour leader denies having given details that could identify Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando.

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil has revealed that it was a casual conversation between himself and Labour leader Joseph Muscat - who at the time was still an MEP - that led the PN to suspect a Labour campaign targeting Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando over a proposed development in Mistra, shortly before the 2008 election.

"I can confirm that I was the person with whom Joseph Muscat spoke," Busuttil said yesterday in a text message reply to questions sent by this newspaper. "The information he disclosed was more than enough for me to easily conclude that JPO was the PL target. I immediately passed on this info to my secretary general, Joe Saliba."

Saliba in turn had alluded to this fact - without mentioning the name of the PN official involved - in an interview shortly after the same election. From this same interview it emerges that the conversation had taken place after the two MEPs had already crossed swords publicly, in a televised debate organised by the Broadcasting Authority: in which Muscat had publicly hinted at a possible smear campaign targeting an unnamed PN candidate.

The subsequent conversation is in fact understood to have taken place on board a flight from Malta to Brussels, where the two MEPs would often sit next to each other.

By revealing these details, Busuttil has effectively ended more than four years of public speculation regarding how the PN first got wind of the Labour Party's plans to build part of its campaign around the inauspiciously-named 'Spin Valley' discotheque... for which a MEPA application had been filed on land owned by Pullicino Orlando, in the ecologically sensitive Mistra valley.

The contract for this disco had featured prominently in the dying days of the election campaign, and is widely believed to have both reversed Labour's chances of victory, as well as catapulted Pullicino Orlando himself into parliament with over 5,000 votes from two districts.

After alluding to its existence for several days without supplying any proof, Labour leader Alfred Sant finally made public the contract - signed by Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando - during the final debate between the party leaders on the eve of the so-called 'day of reflection' before the election.

His timing was however less than perfect: owing to a ban on publication of political stories on the day of reflection, no media carried the story of the Mistra contract, which was therefore lost amid the electoral fever of a particularly tense campaign.

In the wake of the political crisis that culminated in Pullicino Orlando's resignation from the PN earlier this month, both parties have traded blows regarding their respective roles in the Mistra affair, in what appears to be an attempt to dissociate themselves from the same scandal, while tarnishing each other with involvement in the same issue.

Last week, the Nationalist Party returned fire by claiming that it was in fact Joseph Muscat who had inadvertently alerted the PN to the fact that it knew about the Mistra contract.

Busuttil's confirmation yesterday appears to shed light on this latter claim: but a spokesman for Joseph Muscat dismissed Busuttil's version of the facts as erroneous... though he did not the deny that the conversation took place

"Whatever Joseph Muscat said to Simon Busuttil had already been publicly stated on record before, in front of the whole Maltese public, during the televised debate."

The spokesman added that Muscat "categorically denied having mentioned Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, or anyone else, by name, or alluded to the Mistra affair in any way."

lets say that dr muscat might have said something to dr busuttil while travelling together to brussels or vise versa, this proves one thing DONT EVER TRUST A NATIONALIST even in a friendly conversation. they stink.
but then who does he think dr busuttil is taking for a ride. the gonzi pn from the dirt and slime that is now oozing out of pieta gates guarded by thugs,it was evident that the gonzipn knew about jpos enivonmental volte face all the way. those who tried to cover up this scandal are guilty of the same scandal themselves and they will now have to pay for it.

Christian Thorn•

No recorded transcript this time as the Gonzi Oligarchy tend to record all conversations!

Simon is on a 'winning' spree: first he won for us the famous 'burden sharing'whose repercussions will be felt on our future generations for ever...indeed a historical burden that be easily compared to that of Don Gonsalvo Monroy in the early middle ages; then we got, or nearly got, if it were for him, the ACTA agreement that punishes the little man- suppresses his freedom of expression,whilst rewarding big business with greed and a big brother legislation; and now, out of the blues, an other triumph for Simon: the special delegate of the now sinking GonziPN, and the GonziPN spokesman and spinning and weaving incorporated!
Fuq tlieta toqghod il-borma!

Dear Simon and PBO. I refer you to the Times of Malta blog of the 25 July at 11.28 am- UNEMPLOYMENT UP 7.8%.
This is what we care about and not your paprati and your attempts sabiex tahbu ix-xemx bl-arbiel. Remember dearest Simon that once before the EU referendum you insisted that very few foreigners would come to Malta to take Maltese jobs as the trend was for them to go to Northern countries. If you really care just come near the Sliema Police Station and see for yourself the several vans and trucks coming to pick up all sorts of foreigners to do Maltese jobs. This happens all over the Island. So please stop acting and trying to divert Maltese public opinion. And by the way what about the 20,000 jobs created by Gonzipn. It simply does not work out.

eddy privitera•

WILL DR. SIMON BUSUTTIL,OR ANYONE ELSE FROM GONZIPN, NOW EXPLAIN HOW COME THEY CAME TO THE CONCLUSION THAT DR. PULLICINO ORLANDO WAS THE CANDIDADTE INVOLVED, AND NOT SOME OTHER CANDIDATE FROM THE LIST OF OVER A HUNDRED CANDIDATES ?????

GRACE PAVIA•

Two persons have learnt a lesson here. Muscat has learned his lesson as look, he is not giving away Labour's electoral manifesto now. Busuttil learnt it is better to promote freedom of expression as otherwise he would have had his tongue cut short if he continued to support ACTA as avidly as he did.

Of course that Simon Busuttil can say that "The information he disclosed was more than enough for me to easily conclude that JPO was the PL target. It was PN official that leaked the story about Pullicino Orlando to Alfred Sant. So it was easy for them to make one plus one and at the lowest hint that the trick is working!

m borg•

Maybe Simon can produce a recording of what Joseph told him, seeing how gonzipn love of recording each others conversation. Otherwise its his word against Joseph's and going by the way Simon lied about ACTA there is no way that his claims are credible. Not that it matters now who said what. The fact remains that gonzi and cohorts knew about the matter and Simon looks like he knew also therefore he is also accessory to the crime. GONZIPN BLATANTLY LIED to the People.

Andre` Vella•

Who cares!! I can't believe in teh midst of so many problems, the parliament is on holiday and we have to watch this crappy drama unfold before our eyes! Shame on both parties

The importance in this story is not who told who, but the way GonziPN spinned the Mistra saga when they knew that JPO wasn't as innocent as they made him out to be. RCC said in a recent interview that he advised his family to give their last voting preference to JPO.We are still waiting for an apology from GonziPN to Dr Alfred Sant.No amount of spinning from an ex so called civil servant and an expert in sending emails about a story that happened 4 years ago, is going to make the Maltese forget the mess GonziPN is in.So please Simon Busuttil pull the other one